Retired Rolls-Royce workers in Coventry and Warwickshire are being urged to attend a meeting about the company's pension scheme.

Former works convener Alan Wilkins believes scheme members have not been kept properly informed.

He said: "It's time we were brought out of the dark. There are about 10,000 retired pensioners in this area alone and 55,000 nationwide.

"That's a lot more people than there are still working at Rolls-Royce, yet we have no voice on any committee and are not being kept informed by the pensions trustees."

Rumours that there might not be enough money to meet everyone's full entitlements surfaced last December when a one-day "snapshot" of the company pension scheme revealed a #284 million deficit.

Many other major company funds were caught in deficit because of new government accounting procedures.

Rolls-Royce was quick to explain to 2,600 employees at Ansty that the "blip" represented nothing more than a poor day on the stock market and that general pension funds assets on the same day amounted to #4.6 billion.

But there is no mechanism for communicating the information to retired workers, who up to this year have always received pensions increases linked at least to the Retail Price Index on April 1. The increases have not yet materialised this year.

Mr Wilkins, aged 66, and ex-technical staff representative Tom Goodall, say they have been inundated with calls from worried former colleagues.

Both are members of the British Pensioners and Trade Union Action Association which has organised a meeting in TGWU Hall in Short Street, Parkside, at 2pm next Friday.

Mr Goodall, aged 64, said: "Communication between us and the company is practically nil. We have to rely on existing workers or newspapers to tell us what is happening to our pensions.

"We have invited representatives of the company and the two local pensions trustees to attend and hope somebody comes along."

Martin Brodie, head of corporate media relations for Rolls-Royce, did not know if any managers would be at the meeting.

He said the fears were unnecessary and based on "purely a paper deficit" on December 31 when the stock market was low.

He admitted there had been a "breakdown in procedure" which had led to the cost of living rise being delayed.

He said: "Explanatory letters will be sent out but the procedure to match pensions with cost of living payments slipped a bit this year. The increase will be paid on June 1 but backdated to April 1."